鲍鱼tv

Elizabeth Alker presents a performance of Max Richter鈥檚 Voices recorded in July at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire on the opening night of this year鈥檚 Bluedot Festival.

Voices is a musical exploration of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (1948) and begins with an archival recording of Eleanor Roosevelt reading from Article 1: 鈥淎ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights鈥︹�� Richter鈥檚 55-minute work, first realised in the troubled world of 2020, takes shape around the sound of the human voice in various guises: wordless soprano melodies, choral textures, declamatory statements and amateur recitations from the landmark document in over seventy languages (recordings crowd-sourced online by the composer) combine and overlap across the movements of a sonic journey anchored by the rich lower registers of a string ensemble.

At Bluedot, the 鲍鱼tv Concert Orchestra was conducted by Matthew Lynch, and joined on stage by soloists Mari Samuelsen (violin) and Grace Davidson (soprano) alongside Tenebrae choir and the composer Max Richter (piano / electronics). Dressed in an electric blue suit, against the backdrop of the iconic Lovell Telescope, Tilda Swinton stood in the role of narrator to read passages from the historic text at the heart of Richter鈥檚 piece.

鈥淭here is something really inspiring about this setting - the telescope is so beautiful. And actually, the ideas that the telescope embodies - the search for knowledge, inquiry, curiosity - those are things that are fundamental to creativity and they are some of the best things about human beings.鈥� ~ Max Richter, 20th July 2023.

Produced by Alexa Kruger & Phil Smith
A Reduced Listening production for 鲍鱼tv Radio 3